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Mehdi Taremi of FC Porto during the UEFA Champions League match, Group H, between FC Barcelona and FC Porto on November 28. pressinphoto

Winners, losers from Champions League round-of-16 draw

By Alyssa Clang | Last updated 12/18/23

The Champions League group stage wrapped up last week with 16 of the tournament's 32 teams bowing out of the competition.

The remaining 16 — the top two teams in each of the eight groups — will regroup in February to determine who will advance. Their path is simple: defeat one other team in a two-legged playoff to make the next round.

On Monday, UEFA — the governing body of European soccer — drew lots to determine which teams would face each other in this knockout round. Each of the eight group winners was drawn against one of the eight second-place finishers to create a suite of intriguing games for the Round of 16.

The Champions League Round of 16 draw is complete! ✅ pic.twitter.com/EheHtd4zls
— Sky Sports Football (@SkyFootball) December 18, 2023

But whose draw was lucky and whose was unfortunate? And who might break through to surprise everyone and advance against the odds?

Winners

The Premier League did well in the Round of 16 draw — welcome news for anyone worried about two of its four representatives crashing out in the opening matches.

Arsenal will take on FC Porto, which is third in the Liga Portugal behind Benfica and Sporting Lisbon. While Porto is no pushover, the core of its squad is aging, with 40-year-old Pepe leading the defense and 31-year-old Mehdi Taremi leading the front line.

If Arsenal can keep Porto from scoring too many goals — it put five past Ukrainian side Shakhtar Donetsk on Wednesday — it should win without too much difficulty.

Manchester City, meanwhile, received the best draw of the tournament: FC Copenhagen. The Danish side is considered the weakest team by far left in the Champions League and is no match for the treble-winning Citizens. The only negative about this draw for City is that it must travel to the chilly Nordics in February for the away leg.

Skeptics who swear City always gets the easiest team of the lot will not be swayed by this draw.

Losers

Third in La Liga behind Real Madrid and upstart challengers Girona, Barcelona is having a rough season. Unfortunately, this Champions League draw won't make it any easier.

The Blaugrana must travel to Italy to take on Napoli — last season's swashbuckling Italian champion. While Napoli has grown weaker since its big win last summer, it's still a massive offensive threat, with Victor Osimhen and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia linking up to provide goal-scoring firepower.

Napoli is one of the toughest teams Barcelona could've drawn.

OSIMHEN WITH A SPECTACULAR ASSIST!

The game in Naples has come to life, with 3⃣ goals in 7⃣ minutes! pic.twitter.com/tYCrAE98sd
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) December 16, 2023

Upset alert

Casual fans may look at PSG versus Real Sociedad and see nothing but a clear PSG victory, but longtime Champions League viewers know the real story. PSG has consistently underperformed in the knockout rounds since its big-money takeover last decade, and Spain's Real Sociedad — a true left-field challenger who stormed La Liga last season — has all the goods to hurt PSG.

In the group stage, Sociedad finished first over strong teams Inter Milan and Benfica and didn't lose a match.

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